Maybe a little late...

But I finally found a background for Christmas that I thought was cute... and today not many business are open so the phones have been very quiet today so I basically took a couple templates, merged them together, made a few updates and changes, and here is the template that I put together. It was fun working on putting it together... and although it isn't exactly perfect I like it!! Will leave this one up for a little while and then find something else. Anyway... MERRY CHIRSTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

60 Degrees

I went for a run yesterday after work... outside... and I didn't even need a jacket!! Just a long sleeve shirt and pants... in December!! Woo Hoo!! I was so happy. And it is supposed to be in the mid 60's again today. I may try to go running again today.

I was invited to go to a Hawks game for today but found out that it was at 2:00pm... don't have any more vacation days :( Oh well, will have to try again some other time.

Happy New Years Eve Eve!!

Joke

Uncle Mike and Uncle Ed both sent me this as an email... thought it was so funny I had to add it here... enjoy! :)

Leroy


A woman walks into the downtown Tennessee welfare office, trailed by

15 kids... WOW," the social worker exclaims, "Are they ALL YOURS???"

"Yep they are all mine," the flustered momma sighs, having heard
that question a thousand times before.

She says, "Sit down Leroy." All the children rush to find seats.

"Well," says the social worker, "then you must be here to sign up.
I'll need all your children's names."

"This one's my oldest-he is Leroy."

"OK, and who's next?"

"Well, this one he is Leroy, also."

The social worker raises an eyebrow but continues. One by one, through
the
oldest four, all boys, all named Leroy. Then she is introduced to the
eldest
girl, named Leighroy!

"All right...," says the caseworker, "I'm seeing a pattern here...Are
they ALL named Leroy?"

Their Momma replied, "Well, yes-it makes it easier. When it is time
to get them out of bed and ready for school, I yell, 'Leroy!'

An' when it's time for dinner, I just yell 'Leroy!' an' they all
comes arunnin.' An 'if I need to stop the kid who's running into the
street, I just yell 'Leroy' and all of them stop. It's the smartest
idea I ever had, namin' them all Leroy."

The social worker thinks this over for a bit, then wrinkles her
forehead and says tentatively, "But what if you just want ONE kid to
come, and not the whole bunch?"

"I call them by their last names."

Christmas Eve

And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,

"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."


May God bless you... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

... if only in my dreams.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Well, maybe a few days early but I don't know if I will post again before Saturday. I am staying in Georgia (where it is 'warm') for Christmas but will be seeing my family again in March when we go to Florida (much better weather!! I am looking for the beach and relaxation!! In the meantime I need to find a good place to run on a treadmill and a good place to get a tan.

I hear that all of you in the north are getting a good amount of snow?? That is what they are reporting on the news... but the have mostly focused around Indiana so I guess I don't know how far north the storm has gotten. We are getting the most southern tip of the storm but it has all been rain.

Another update to the blog... my parents have gotten into the blogging craze and now have their own blog... I have linked their blog in my link section!! If anyone else decided to start a blog let me know... I will link their as well. It is a pretty quick and painless process... create a user name and password... pick a template, and you can start typing away. If you want to add links there is a little more to it and I can help you with that. Pictures there is a little more too as well... not hard just if you need help I am here to do that! Just sending out an FYI. I was reading online that email is now of the past... that everyone is now doing instant messaging and blogging... lol.

Snow??

Merry week of Christmas!! All month I tried to find a cute Christmas background for this journal but didn't find anything that I liked… oh well I guess!

So… yesterday I was sitting at home… trying to stay warm when the guys from Best Buy stop by to deliver the washer and dryer the guys got over the weekend… when I step outside what to I see but snow… SNOW! Ugg! It was very light and there is nothing left over this morning to prove that it had snowed last night but I didn’t like it at all! And it is so cold this morning… I had to pull out my winter jacket and gloves for the first time this winter but it is supposed to warm up for the rest of the week!

Back to the house updates... I was in the kitchen making breakfast yesterday when something happened to catch my eye outside. I saw an animal that looked like a very large chipmunk running around so I thought I would look out at it… I then noticed it was too large to be a chipmunk and the tail was way too skinny to be a squirl… I am thinking it was a rat… yuck!! I screamed and pointed and made a huge scene until it was out of sight… and I thought about getting an outdoor cat to take care of that kind of problem… don’t think that will happen it was just a thought. Still… yuck! //Shiver//

I know things get lost in a move but I can’t find my power supply for my laptop now… I know that I moved it from the old house to the new one… I remember having it in my hand and I have searched high and low for the power supply but haven’t found it yet… I will keep looking and will find it somewhere I am sure but… sigh. Another thing that happened in the move… I broke 2 of my ornaments… and one I had gotten when I worked at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Luckily it broke in the back so I am still using it for now but I don’t know how much longer it will hold up.

PICTURES!!

I am uploading pictures right now to my link... it generally takes about an hour for the pictures to be viewable... but there will be its own section (New House - Dec. 2004). They were taken on Friday so there are a lot of boxes all over the place... but then there still are.

It has been quite an adventure-some couple of days... I got out of work yesterday at noon and went to TJ Max for the curtains. I found some I liked but they were all still a little more than I wanted to pay... so I went to the clearance section. I didn't find any curtains but I did find some nice bed sheets. So I put the curtains down and picked up the bed sheets (twin size Tommy Hillfiger) for $4 each. So I got 3 of those for the game room (2 in off-white and one in navy blue) and then I found a king size navy blue sheet for $7. I have the sewing machine so now all I have to do is sew them up. We got one of my roommates a bed and we got us each a desk for our computers.

Today we went out to another part of Atlanta where there is a lot of discounted furniture... it was so crazy. We went in one section that was named the "Furniture Mall." I have never been in anything like it and it is very hard to describe... just that there was a ton of stuff in it and you could get anything from authentic Oriental rugs or furniture to your hair cut. It was like a huge barn had been converted into this huge maze of things and places to go! I also for the first time saw the gay yellowpages... I laughed so hard but the guys wouldn't let me take one home... LOL!!

After that the guys went to get the washer and dryer (which was picked up from Best Buy) and I went to Target and Publics (for groceries). I found out why most people don't do move during Christmas time... I got to Target and all of the carts were taken!! The experience was a little worse since I don't know the stores very well yet and they were all packed with people!! Eventually I will find my way around.

On another note... I know a few of you have asked what actually happened at TJ Max... well, I never found out. If I ever do I will post it here.

Done with the drive!!!

Well, last night was the first night in the new place!! It only took 2 trips last night for us to have everything moved... now its time to put everything away. It was nice this morning... I was able to get to work in about 10 minutes!! I love that drive!

I wasn't able to go to the house at lunch yesterday... actually... I never was even able to take a lunch yesterday. Ten minutes before my lunch break was to begin all of the phone lines for all of our customers in Dallas went down. So we were bombarded with calls. Then our phones here in the office went down… yeah… customers didn’t appreciate that and they let us know thru emails and web based tickets… between the 2 we had over 1,000 within about 10 minutes. So, I was able to get off the phone for the afternoon and help our web group take and inventory all of the tickets. The phone lines were fixed within 20 minutes but we got done inventorying everything just before 5:00 so I was able to leave on time.

I already took some pictures of the house with all the boxes. I took them this morning and we don't have Internet access there yet so I am waiting to get that before I can upload those... also, I will take some more pictures this weekend as everything gets put away.

I wish I would have had my camera on my drive home last night just to remind myself what I have been driving in. I was sitting on the top of a hill… looking at a speed limit sign – “Speed Limit 30 MPH during School times” and thinking I wish I was going 30. And then I look ahead of me and I see nothing but red break lights for miles… and then looking in my rear view mirror and seeing nothing but white lights for as far as I could see. I will not miss that drive!

With any luck and (knock on wood) no mass outages I will be out of here at noon… going to TJ Max (will test my luck again) to see if they have curtains or anything else we may need and then going home and clean, put away, and wait for the cable guy to come…

Last Day??

This could be the last day of the move... last night the guys made 3 trips back and forth between the old and new house. They moved a lot of the big stuff while I started at the new house... unpacked my car... arranged things in the new house... went to the old house and repacked again.

I got the kitchen packed up!!! I was dreading that the most because it has been a mix of everyone’s stuff. So I had to go thru every cupboard to make sure everything or ours had been packed while making sure not to pack anything that wasn’t ours. But like 5 boxes later all the kitchen stuff had been packed away.

I now have the Christmas tree back up in the new house... the tree is up but not decorated. That will probably done tomorrow afternoon.

I was thinking about going to the new house at lunch (to keep myself from shopping) and unpacking so I can go back to the old house to make the ‘final’ (hopefully ) trip to make sure we got everything. But that may not work because lunch is being provided today at work to celebrate Christmas. That isn’t bad though because I wasn’t looking forward to the rush hour traffic if I left here at 5:00pm tonight… but if I hurry and go to the new house, unpack and run it won’t be much better… I’ll see how the lunch thing goes… it may work out that I can eat while I work and still make it to the house for my lunch break.

Hopefully we will be spending the night in the new house (and I will be sleeping in an extra hour)!

On another note… yesterday I went shopping for silverware… I decided to start at TJ Max to see what they had. I left work around noon and I noticed there were about 5 or 6 helicopters just hovering in the air and thought that was odd. I then got to the complex with TJ Max in it and there were police cars and fire engines all over the parking lot and there was some yellow caution tape covering a lot of the parking lot. Still there were a lot of people walking around so I thought the store may still be open. I got out of my car and started walking towards the store when a police officer told me that the stores were closed and to get back into my car and leave the area. Hmm. Now I am curious but I left anyway and went to Target. I ended up getting my silverware at target but still haven’t found out what happened in the parking lot of TJ Max yesterday. I looked thru the Internet at the news stations and I listened to the news last night and this morning but no mention of what occurred. Still curious.

Unpack Car, Repack Car, Repeat... Day 3

So, my car has been filled again. After work I will unpack it at the new place, put stuff away, go back to the old place and fill it again. Last night I packed up the Christmas tree. It is now in one of my roommate’s truck to be moved to the new place. I will be putting that up Friday afternoon... I am going to be taking a half day off work so we can have cable installed so I will have time to put that up. It may be funny for the installers to see just that up in the house... no furniture... just a tree. But my 2 roommates may be dropping their car loads off at the new house tonight, reloading with furniture and going back to the new house tonight to drop it off (they get out of work before me)... so there may be some furniture in the house. I am planning on taking some pictures on Friday night after I get the tree up and Saturday morning so I will try to get them up on the website on Saturday as well.

On a different note, I guess Georgia has been jealous of all the snow that Michigan has been having because in the forecast this weekend is... SNOW!!! Ugg!!! I don't know what is happening... people have been telling me how rare snow is here but I don't believe them anymore... I haven't even been here a year and we are already having snow in the forecast!!

Day 2

I was so happy last night when I got to the new place and it had already been cleaned out... so we did a little minor dusting and moved the first load in. We went out to eat after that (to wait for the rush hour traffic to die down) and it was so nice that there are a ton of places so close to go to. We ate at Mellow Mushroom and when we walked out I could see all the building on the outside of the city all light up. It was so cool! I love the new place, close to a huge city, hardwood floors, and in a place where it is warm more than half the year... I am a happy girl!!

Speaking of temperature though… today it is only supposed to get to 40 degrees!! Ugg!! But the funniest part is I was listening to the radio this morning and they act like it is the end of the world. They are getting information from the national weather channel on how to bundle up. It made me laugh and think of you all in the north that have been dealing with this weather for months already!! Thought you would get a kick out of that!!

Anyway… after dinner we went and packed up some more… my car is full so I am ready to unload and repack again today. I think that we will be able to have most everything moved in by Friday. It will be down to the big items then that we will have to move. At lunch I am going to go to Target to pick up some things that none of us have (like silverware).

Moving!!

So, I am moving again!! This time I am only moving an hour away from where I am currently living... and much closer to where I work. Two of my roommates and I have been complaining about the drive that we have to do everyday… we all work within 3 miles of each other and we all have different schedules so we each drive the hour to hour and a half to work and back everyday. After some though we decided to start looking at some of the options to move closer… one of my roommates started looking at houses to rent and we found one that will be about 3 miles away from where each of us work (very centrally located) and we will be paying very close to the same amount that we are where we currently live. So, we filled out the application and found out on Saturday that we will be able to start moving in today. So, we filled up each of our vehicles and will go there after work to clean and start moving. We thought about renting a U-Haul but we decided to move a little bit every night this week and see how that goes. If we still have a lot on Friday we may decided to get one… but one of the roommates has a truck so we should be alright.

I do have a picture of the outside of the house from the ad…


The new place!! 

and once we get moved in I will take some pictures of the house and add them to the links.


One addition to the pictures link is I put a picture of the Christmas tree in the ATL section… I took it yesterday since I will have to take it down this week. I am planning on putting it back up in the new house but we shall see how I feel after the week of moving!

If anyone didn’t get my new address and they would like it just send me an email and I will get that to you.

Sunny and 70's

Today is the first day of actual sun that we have had here in a while... but I am not complaining... nope. It has been mid 60's all week and today it is supposed to hit 70!! I love it... but it does make it a little harder to get into the Christmas spirit when I am not wearing a jacket (hehe).

It has been busy for me at work... we have a new person in our department and my boss is having me train him on the ways of tier 1 phone technical support. It isn't too difficult to train someone but it takes some thinking into what I actually do... it has started to get so routine that it is funny sometimes when he askes a question.. makes me think!

It's raining, its pouring...

It has been raining all weekend long. This morning as I was eating breakfast the news was on and they were talking about flooding on some of the main roadways. They were not kidding. I had to go thro a few spots were there was a lot of standing water... and I heard a lot of sirens on the way to work. Luckily there were no accidents on my way in! But I really can't complain too much... it isn't snow... and it is supposed to get up to 60 degrees today!!

The weekend for me was nice and relaxing!! My roommates and I stayed around home (which I prefer to do when I drive so much during the week) and played some games. We went out once to have dinner on Sunday. We went to a nice Mexican restaurant that we hadn't been to before... it was really nice. I turned the lights on the Christmas tree since it was dark with the rain. I love having the Christmas lights on! I also slept a lot. I am actually somewhat awake this morning!!

Comments galore!

Wow... I checked out my blog today and I had so many comments yesterday... seems I get the most comments when I mention the weather... hmm. I guess I know now that weather is a touchy subject... hehe!! It is getting chilly here... but then I guess chilly is subjective!! Don't y'all get buried in the snow!!!

To Uncle Mike and Aunt Linda... just give me a call when you get around here!

Tonight is another gym night... going to go work out and get in shape. I am tired just thinking about it!!

Daily Grind

Well, I think I am back into the full swing of things... finally! I still am not 100% but I am darn close. Yesterday I was able to go to work and talk all day with minimal coughing and then I was able to go to the gym and work out!! Woo hoo!!

I am still loving the weather down here... I still haven't had to pull out my winter jackets. It has been averaging a high of around 60 degrees lately... not too shabby! I have heard that there will be a couple months that I may want my jacket... not looking forward to that but then I guess it will still make me appreciate summer!

Where's the Turkey???

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Well, last night I went to make the pumpkin pies for our Thanksgiving dinner today. I made the pies, put them in the oven, waited the 50 minutes like the directions said but they were no where near being done. So, I waited another 15 minutes... then another 15 minutes, and another 15 minutes... still the pies are not done... hmm. We finally figured out that the oven, although it was warm, really wasn't the required 350 degrees to cook the pies. The day before the big Thanksgiving dinner, where we have a huge turkey, the oven decides that it no longer wants to work! We use the oven about once a month... and this is the month it decides to die!! So, the Thanksgiving day plans changed... last night at 11:30pm... when we finally established that we wouldn't be fixing the oven anytime soon we went out to Kroger and picked up some new pies and some ingredients to cook the turkey in the slow cooker. It isn't quite dinner time yet so the turkey isn't ready... but it sure smells good! By the way... the pies that I made didn't go to waste... I went into the kitchen last night and found one of them eaten and a note from the "Thanksgiving Day Fairy" thanking me for the pie... although I do suspect 2 of my roommates...

This morning I woke up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade!! And then I decided that I needed to do something while I watched the show so, in my normal Thanksgiving weekend tradition, I put the Christmas tree up! It is so pretty!!! As soon as I take some pictures I will post them with the rest of my pictures.

I am finally feeling better!! For the first day I can talk with out coughing... although I still am coughing! I am taking the medicine from the doctor still and it is really helping!!

Long time... no blog!

Sorry I have been away so long. This week I only worked 3 days... and those 3 days were extremely busy. I did about as much work in those 3 days as I normally do in a week. On Wednesday I started to feel sick (I was really hoping that it was allergies).

On Thursday I finally got my license changed. I took the day off in order to get that done and it only took a couple of hours. Down here they have offices that just do licenses. I got there a little before 9 (they open at 9) and I was at least 60th in line. I figured I would be there all day but I was lucky... by about 10:30 or 11:00am I was done. After that I went to get my plates for my car but was unable to do so because my dad has co-signed the car for me and he has to sign a letter stating that it is alright for me to have the car changed to Georgia. So, I will probably have to take more time off work to go there again because they are only open 8-5 Monday thru Friday... which is when I work.

I wasn't feeling very good on Thursday either and I Friday I really knew I had a cold. I spent all weekend at home... I went out once with some roommates to eat and to get groceries. We went to Wal-Mart so I looked at fake Christmas trees also... found one that I like so next weekend I can put it up!! Yesterday I woke up with no voice... hoping that it would come back by this morning but it didn't. I am going to figure out where the closest med center is and go there later today.

So, that really gets you back up to date. Sorry I have been away so long!!

Added Link

I just recieved an email from my friend Monique. Her and I worked together at the Northwood help desk. She sent me the link to her blog so I have added it here. Take a look!

I am slowly getting back into my gym routine. I went last night and was able to run without pain for the first time in a while! Woo hoo!! I am still seeing the chiropractor but will be slowing seeing him less... which means I am getting stronger (very good thing!)!

Monday... again!

Welcome back to Monday...

I had a very fun weekend but really didn't do a whole lot. The only time I left the house was to get my oil changed in my vehicle but for the most part my roomates and I played games.

This is the week that I am going to transfer all my vehicle/identification to Georgia... I have taken Thursday off (since that is the only day that I can do that in my county) and hopefully will be able to get that taken care of all on one day... wish me luck!!

Pappadeaux

I was able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa E last night. It was really nice to see them again although it had only been a few days since I last saw them. We went out to Pappadeaux to eat. We actually got there at the perfect time because it wasn't too busy yet. We all had fish... yum... and there was so much for me that I could only eat half of it so I will have dinner for tonight too!! By the time we left there were people waiting to be seated... I have been there a few times before and it is quite big but this was the first time that I saw people waiting to be seated.

Christmas Vacation

I had so much fun seeing everyone on my Mom's side of the family!! It was nice because the whole family was able to get together for the Christmas celebration. We opened presents in the morning... I got some really nice gifts!! We ate dinner in a diner in the town... it was actually like a Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn...). We then played cards for the rest of the night. The girls all played one game that they related to the card game Golf (although we only called it crap) it was basically a game of luck... I lost every game but it was fun. We then played euchre and I lost them all again!! We had so much fun though. My Grandma just sent me some family pictures so I will try to post them up to the picture site in just a minute.

Picture...

Here is Derek, Cliff and I from the hike... 

I was playing with a tool to add pictures to my journal... just testing with one of the pictures from the hike...


I also have gotten my boarding pass for my flight this afternoon. The flight number is 258... from Atl to Flint (just in case you are curious). I should be arriving in Flint at 5:55pm. I have my seat already too... I was able to pick it online... I will be by a window... woo hoo!! I like to be able to look outside while flying, it is always so beautiful!

Um... Merry Christmas??

This weekend I am going up to Michigan to have Christmas with my Mom's side family. We have been doing Christmas around this time of year for the past few years because it seems to work out as the best time to have everyone get together. I am very excited to see everyone!! Tonight will consist of packing so I decided to see what the weather is going to be like so I can pack accordingly. I went to weather.com and here is what it told me:

Fri Nov 05 Partly Cloudy 48°/38°
Sat Nov 06 Partly Cloudy 55°/43°
Sun Nov 07 Few Showers 54°/33°

I thought ouch... but then those of you living there year round this year probably think that isn't too bad... but it has been so warm here that I am going to have to bring a couple of layers!! But... I am still excited to be visiting!!

Changed again...

Sorry I was so busy yesterday at work that I was unable to update this blog. Luckly with the election today the phones are quiter this morning so I am able to play around a little bit.

Yesterday lunch though was really fun... I was able to see Uncle Mike and Uncle Ed. They were driving from Florida to Michigan and they came thru Atlanta right at my lunch break so I took them out to Folks (a southern restaurant). It was a lot of fun to see them!! They did take some pictures so they should be on Uncle Mike's blog once he has time to add them(linked on the side). They also gave me an I Love NY tee shirt!! Very cool!! I wore it last night once I got home!!

Pictures from the Hike

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Just a note to tell you that I have added pictures from the hike to my pictures link... they are beautiful pictures!! We had the most fun on the hike yesterday. It was a beautiful day for a hike... it was mid to upper 70's and it was partly sunny for most of the hike. (In the last mile it did sprinkle but we didn't mind at all). We ended up going about 13 miles and were in the woods for about 8 hours. Needless to say I am very sore today!!

The Amicalola Falls were absolutely beautiful and I took quite a few pictures of the falls. The falls were in the first mile of the approach to the Appalachian Trail. We ended up walking up the back side of the falls so we saw very little of the falls on our way in. We did go to the top and saw the view from the top. We then walked about 5 miles of the approach to the Appalachian Trail. We then circled to a lodge where we stopped and ate our packed lunch. We then followed the lodge path back to the falls and then walked down the front of the Amicalola Falls. The most difficult part was the approach to the Appalachian Trail because it went up and down all of the hills instead of walking around them... but it all was a lot of fun!!

We are looking to go back to the trail and hike from the lodge to the beginning of the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain in a few weeks. The path from the lodge to Springer Mountain is about the same distance as the waterfall to the lodge so we would be able to do the path from the lodge to Springer Mountain and back in one day. If we were to start where we did yesterday it would be a good 2 day walk from the falls to Springer Mountain.

Enjoy looking at the pictures... I sure enjoyed taking them!!

(Quick) Update

I have added pictures to my link and I love this camera (one of my roomates)... the pictures came out beautifully!!! P.S. you will want to look in the In the ATL folder.

I am planning on taking the camera with us on the hike... maybe I will be able to add some of those as well.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

So, I probably will not update this thing again until Monday so... Happy Halloween!!


Tomorrow I am planning on going hiking with my roomates. We are looking at going to the Amicalola Falls. It should be a lot of fun!!

Travis Tritt

Well, I found out something interesting for all you country fans... I found out that Travis Tritt grew up in the county that I now live in. There is a road down here called Travis Tritt highway that is (obviously) named after him... silly me, I had driven by the "highway" (2 laned road) before but didn't put that together! Oh well, a little tidbit of trivia!

Last night I went to the gym... when I walked in my trainer and the doctor were sitting right at the front entry way so I talked to them for a little while... they are really nice people... we discussed my neck and things that I should be doing to help make it stronger and to help get rid of the pain. I will probably work with the doctor for a little while in getting my neck stronger so I don't hurt it again.

Did anyone else look at the eclipse last night?? It was pretty cool to see... it turned all red. I was watching the Red Sox game last night and would go outside to see all the phases of the eclipse... very cool!!

Can you find it?

Can you spot the 3 diffrences between these 2 pictures? Click here to look. Let me know...

Weekend fun!

On Thursday night I went to work out at the gym... I did about 2 weight exercises and my neck and head started to really hurt... my head started to throb and got really hot and I felt like I was going to pass out. Now, I had felt much less but somewhat similar pain before when working out but it was a lot less and after a minute or two of sitting it didn't really hurt anymore and I could move on. Only one time did it hurt long term but that was only for a few hours and then the pain went away. So, I tried to do another exercise but the pain was too much so I decided to leave... but before I left I stopped to my trainer and told him the pain I had been feeling... he wanted me to come in the next day and see the chiropractor but I had to work all day and I was going to North Carolina the next day to see some of the mountains and to do some gemstone mining (something I hadn’t done before). So the trainer stated he would talk with the chiropractor and he just wanted me to call in to see what he said.

I drove home and on the way my head started hurting so bad that tears just started flowing, I started to feel dizzy, and as the night went on the pain got much worse. I couldn’t find a comfortable position to lie down, I was taking medication, and I was just in pain. I was lucky because one of my roommates went out and got me some stronger medication and a heating pad for my neck. The combo made it so I could at least sleep part of the night.

The next morning the alarm went off and I opened my eyes and thought… hmm… it doesn’t hurt so bad… and then I sat up. All the pain came rushing back!! So, I took a shower and then tried to get ready for work but the pain was just too much. I called my trainer back and surprisingly he answered the phone (it was about 6:00am) and said that the chiropractor wasn’t scheduled to be in until 9:00 but he was going to find out if he could come in earlier. I then called my manager and let him know that at best I was going to be to work late… when my trainer got back to me he stated that he couldn’t get a hold of the chiropractor but he would be in at 9am… I stated that I would be too.

I was there at 9am and started talking to them, and then chiropractor did some testing and cracking and stated that I had pulled most of the muscles in the back of my neck. He stated that I should ice it (20 minutes on, 20 minutes off), take medication if necessary and he gave me a few stretches to do daily. My head was still in so much pain that I decided that I would just take the rest of the day off sick and ice my neck like crazy… the last thing I wanted to do with my headache was deal with crabby people!!

For the next few hours I slept (since I really didn’t sleep well then night before) and iced my neck. By 3:00pm I decided that I still wanted to go up to N. Carolina (I asked the doctor and he said it would be fine to go) so I got my stuff together and met one of my roommates at their work and we drove up… we met their parents up there and found a hotel room and I continued to ice the whole weekend but on Saturday morning my neck finally started feeling better (but I continued to take Tylenol because my head was still sore).

Saturday we went gemstone mining… it was definitely a different experience (probably similar to panning for gold. We had planned on going to one mine (Sheffield – I think was the name of the place) but after going to the town’s information center and talking to the guy behind the counter we decided to go to Rose Creek (I think that was the name… again… I am so terrible at remembering names). It was closer but we missed the road to the place so we ended up going a ways out of our way… it wasn’t a big deal though because we were in the foothills of the mountains and the leaves on the trees were turning color so it was actually quite pretty.

When we got there we learned how to “mine” for our gemstones. They had a shed that they had brought a mix of dirt, clay and mud to, we filled our buckets full of dirt and then sat down by some water with a sifter and sifted the mix thru the water and there would be some gemstones still in the sifter. It was kinda cool to see all the dirt and then to remove it and see some very pretty stones… some were large, most were small but all were a lot of fun to see come out of the dirt!! We were there for a few hours but after a while it gets tough on your back and hands (some of the clay and mud was hard to sift out).

There was also a Pumpkin Festival going on so we decided to check that out… it ended up being a few booths of arts and crafts, 1 folk style band and a few food booths… we got there about 4:30 and it ended at 5:00… but by that time we were all pretty hungry so we found a restaurant, and then went back to the hotel room. There was a swimming pool in the hotel so we all went down there.

In all it was a very fun weekend… and seeing all the color was so beautiful… so much so that we are hoping to go hiking in the Georgia Mountains this weekend… hopefully the weather will cooperate!! It has been pretty nice down here weather wise though!!

I did take a few pictures over the weekend... once I figure out how to get them off the camera I will add them to my link!

Dave and Busters

Last night I went with one of my roommates to Dave and Busters and we were going with some other people from their work. I have been there before and it is basically an adult arcade but also has a restaurant and bar in it. Last time I was there I had a lot of fun... well, like most places in Atlanta their work staggers hours of operation for all the people so we sat at the bar and waited for everyone to get there. By the time the majority of the people got there it was after 8:00pm and we were so hungry and we just found out that Dave and Busters doesn't take reservations so we would be waiting a while for a table for the amount of people that we had. My roommate and I were so hungry we decided that we would just go and eat... we were seated at a table and waiting for about 15 minutes and the whole time we were sitting there we didn't see a waiter... not that they just didn't come to our table, we didn't even see them walk by... so we decided it was time to go.

We left there and went to Joe's Crab Shack. It was a very cute place to eat and I know they have them all over... but it was my first time going to one. The only problem was most of the food is fried so I ended up getting chicken... but it was very tasty (and they got our food out to us fairly quickly which was a huge plus since we were so hungry)!!

Even though we had to wait for food for so long it was a very fun night!! It was also very cool to meet some more new people!!

The Diva Prayer...

I got this from a friend of mine here at work and thought it was hilarious!! Enjoy!!

The Diva Prayer...

Armani
Who Art in Neiman's
Hollowed by thy shoes
Thy Prada come
Thy Shopping done
On Rodeo
As it is in Paris
Give us this day, Our Visa Gold
And forgive us our balance
As we forgive those who charge us interest
Lead us not into Penny's
And deliver us from Sear's
For thine is the Chanel, the Gaultier and the Versace
For Dolce and Gabbana

Amex

Allergies

I can tell it is the change of seasons... as it gets colder out I like to have more blankets on the bed... and I pull out all the sweaters that have been in hiding... but pulling it all out means that I am bringing with it about 6 months of dust... Ugh... alleregies are back. Funny thing is... it still really isn't too cold here... just cold enough to get the change of seasons started.

Welcome to Tuesday... thunderstorms are in the forecast for today and I don't remember where I last put my umbrella. I may need to look for it at lunch (hopefully it is in my car). I get made fun of every once in a while because it is bright pink and quite small (hey, I have had it since I was 8) but it still keeps the rain off my head (that is when I can find it)!

I am hoping to get my hair cut soon... I am growing the dye out of my hair so I have cut my hair short and am trying to get it cut regularly. The last time I got it cut was a few months ago. The only problem is I don't have a salon that I like to go to here yet... have to keep looking I guess!

PS... thanks Mom and Jason for the comments!!

Comments, again.

When I changed my background to the Halloween one the comments section went away... must have been that the template just didn't add the comment section... so, after a little bit of research, I have found a way to add the comments back in. Enjoy!!

24 Hours of Adrenaline

Yesterday a couple of my roomates went out. We ate at a place called Eats... it Jamaican... I had chicken (took off the skin which was very spicy), broccoli and corn bread... it was very inexpensive and very good.

The bike race called (24 Hours of Adrenaline) was a lot of fun... it actually started off kinda boring. We got there (it was on the complete other side of Atl... so like 2 hours away) around 5:00 (after doing some shopping). One of my roommates knew one of the guys on the team and one of the helpers. The team had 4 people on it and they race for 24 hours. It started at noon on Saturday and ended at noon today. Each racer took turns doing an 8 mile loop that elevated about 1000 feet on granite, rock, and then some level places... needless to say... very difficult. There were some people who were solo riders who were doing the whole 24 hours by themselves (there is no way I could do that)!!

Anyway, we couldn't find the people that we knew right away so we just sat for about 45 minutes at the ending gate. I was starting to get bored and thirsty. I didn't know anyone coming across the finish lane and it was a flat section... So, we started walking around and found the rider that we knew. He told us that we could try to walk around the course (which went back into the woods and curved all over) and find a different place to watch. Also, at one of the check points was the guy who was helping that we knew... we could try to find him. We also ran into another guy that we knew... so the 4 of us (2 roommates, me, and the guy we ran into) decided to find the check point. It ended up being a very cool walk and the check point was about a mile walk - maybe a little more). The start and finish of the race was in an equestrian park... so all around were places that people could take their horses and do jumps and whatnot that we walked by... there was also a golf course that was on the edge. We winded around to the check point which was on the top of a very narrow path up a steep granite hill. We watched from there for over an hour (from about 6:30 or a little after until 8:00pm) in that time only 3 people made it successfully up the hill without having to walk... and there were approximately 600 riders total doing the race. By 8:00 it was extremely dark but we were able to make it back to the car around 9:00 pm. We had a lot of fun.

Today is pretty much a day to relax... went to the gym, got some groceries, now I am going to make dinner and do some laundry... ok maybe not relax... but get everything done around the house!

Cold!

It has been cold the last few days!! So... thinking that cold is really quite a relative term so I decided to look it up on weather.com:

61°F
Partly Cloudy
UV Index: 6 High
Dew Point: 51°F
Humidity: 70%
Visibility: 10.0 miles
Pressure: 29.75 inches and falling
Wind: Variable at 5 mph


Lol... but, truly, it's starting to feel like Fall... although it is still all green outside!!

Another update...

I have added the link to my Uncle's web site... you can take a look at his as well!!

Updated...

So, I have gotten my blog ready for Halloween... I have been searching (in between work calls of course) for a good Halloween background... and this is the only Halloween background I found... it has been a fun project this morning and has been keeping me busy between calls and luckily I think it is a cute background!! As per the license agreement... I have the link to the blog where I got the background in my list of links... take a look if you want!

Columbus Day...

I am guessing quite a few people had the day off yesterday for Columbus Day because my drive into work was so quick yesterday... opposite of what normally occurs on a Monday. It actually only took me 45 minutes yesterday... as opposed to over an hour today... gotta love the city driving!!

I went to the gym last night to get my daily routine in and there was a blood drive going on. So, I did my workout and then gave blood to the American Red Cross. Funny how after giving blood you aren't supposed to get the area wet for 5 hours and they really stress you should take it easy. I understand that they don't want you to run a marathon but I don't get the get it wet part. Oh well, I guess.

The weekend

I went out on Saturday to PF Changs with all of my roommates... it was a very nice Chinese Bistro... yum!! Check out the website if you want to see more about the place... but after that we went to a used bookstore... I do love bookstores but hardly ever buy books... generally I am more of a library kinda girl. But they are still so much fun to go to!!

Also, the guys wanted to go to Best Buy... and there was a Linen store right next to it. I have been wanting a candle holder where you put the tea light in the bottom and a scent on top. I used to have one before I moved down and I loved it before. I was able to get one there as well as a few scents. I burned a few this weekend!!

I also went mall shopping this weekend... fun!! Express and the Limited had sales going on... the sales are generally so good and I can find a lot of nice clothes fairly inexpensively, so I was willing to drive quite a ways to go to the mall. I got a few of my roommates together and we went to the mall that I like because it has a good cinema and it is pretty nice... I just assumed that both stores were there but ended up being, I think, the only mall in this whole area that had neither store. I was able to go to another mall to shop and this mall did have both stores. Unfortunately there wasn't as much as normal on sale but I did find a few good shirts.

And that's Chicago...

I had the most fun last night!!! We went out for dinner at Pappadeaux before the show... yum! That place has the greatest food... and I love the way it is decorated. We then went downtown to watch the show.

The Fox was absolutely beautiful... still done in a very old style. We sat on the main floor in the middle so we were under the second floor. During the intermission I went to the stage and was able to see the ceiling... it was done very Arabian and the ceiling was a gorgeous blue and it looked like it has stars in it.

I loved the show. I have seen the movie so many times and I have even watched it with the commentary on a few times so I had heard the directors talk about the process of taking the musical and turning it into a movie. In the commentary they discussed some of the musical... and that made the whole show even funnier to me!! It was absolutely hilarious and there wasn't a part I didn't enjoy. It was absolutely fabulous!!

CHICAGO

Tonight I am going to see the musical Chicago... I am so very excited... will let you know how it went tomorrow.

___

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Christmas Vacation

I have gotten all of my arrangements together for the Engelhardt Christmas Party. I am taking a half day off on that Friday and heading out about 4:00pm... I should be in town about 6:00pm. Can't wait to see you all (or... y'all)!!

Another good quote...

Thought this quote was a good one for a busy professional but if you own your own business it probably wouldn't work ;-)~

"In order to appear busy, one should pace around the office clutching files. ... The best part of this ancient ritual is that it tends to make one's colleagues look away - just in case you and your papers are going to interrupt their own lassitude." Is Slacking the Only Way to Survive the Office?; The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland); Aug 16, 2004.

Supersize Me

This last weekend a friend of the house stopped by and we watched the movie Supersize Me. It was definitely eye opening as to why all the junk food that we eat makes us so fat. Especially since so often I will eat the junk and then just sit around... not a good combo!! But, I still think, even after watching that movie, that so many people just want to blame things like their weight on something besides themselves... and I think that is ridiculous. Self responsibility is what should occur. Anyway... without getting any more into it... it was a good movie... glad I watched it. (If you want to see a link of the movie click on the title).

Speaking of junk food... here is another first. I had Krystal's for the first time last weekend. Krystal's is a southern fast food chain that I guess is something like White Castle (although I haven't been there that is what I heard). It was alright as far as fast food goes.

Night at the Fair...

We all decided to go to the fair at about 7:00 last night... and we had the most fun... although it really didn't start out that way.

It is only about a half hour drive away... and really that is how long it actually took to do the drive... Unfortunately we had to wait another hour to get a parking spot. And that spot ended up being a good mile from the actual fair. Needless to say, we were all pretty crabby from the wait but looking back it ended up being worth the wait!!

So, after we finally parked and did the trek to the fair we were all pretty excited to see what this whole event was about. There was so much to see, rides with all the flashing lights, carneys, food stands, concerts in the rodeo section, hyponistists, palm readers, booths selling trinkets, and the area where they judged the plants, flowers, canned goods, and what not. We ended up eating a little bit, watching the concert (which was Jars of Clay), laughing at the hyponistist, and watching the strength test game that they have at all the fairs. It was so much fun we were there for a few hours.

One thing that I noticed was there was no beer tent. I guess that I am so used to having the beer tent at all the festivals it just caught me as funny... just an observation.

North Georgia State Fair

Tonight I am going to the Georgia State Fair with 2 of my roommates... I am very excited to be going. I have passed it every night on my way to work for the last week and it looks like so much fun.

I was able to car pool today to work with one of my roommates... it was very nice. It definitely helped keep me awake on my ride in. But, with all of the working out we have been doing I am still extremely tired. Good thing its Friday... I can relax this weekend!!

_____

Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. --P. J. O'Rourke
_____

Ok... so, I just finished reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It is definitely suspensful with a new twist with every turn of each page. It also hits on some very controversial Church related information. For those of you who haven't read the book I will not say anything regarding what the book is about... If you have read it... let me know what you think.

Quote of the Day

Was playing around between calls and found this little quote from Friends. Thought it was cute...

Joey : Rach, you gotta find out if he's in the same place you are. Otherwise, it's just a moo point.
Rachel : A moo point?
Joey : Yeah. It's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.
Rachel : Have I been living with him too long or did that all just make sense?

Also, want a good scary story... visit this site. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Enjoy!!

Chicago at the Fox

I am going to see Chicago next week!! Well, I better specify... I am going to see the musical Chicago. They are coming to Atlanta's Fox Theatre next week and I am going next Thursday... I can't wait. I know that the musical is supposed to be different from the movie. I did like the movie and I love musicals so I am very excited!! I can't wait to get dressed up, go downtown, in beautiful old theatre, and see a musical. I have only seen a few other things like this... one was the Christmas Spectacular in Detroit (my cousin is a rockette so I have seen this a few times) and the other was Phantom of the Opera in NYC. I loved both of those... so I know I will have a lot of fun at this one!!

Body Pump

Hello again...

I have added some new pictures to my albums... I actually remembered to take a picture of something funny here:

Look in the ATL section... you will see the cat in the tree. Generally Mr. Snuggles is an indoor cat. Well, one of the doors was left open and he happened to sneak outside. While being outside he met a beagle that happens to run around the neighborhood (we can only guess who the dog actually belongs to). But, from what I hear they weren't all to friendly when they met... and Snuggles ended up in the tree. Eventually he was cleaver enough to get himself back down.

In the Family section... I have updated some of the pictures that was set to me by Mikey... they are of the guys getting their hunting spots all ready. I know that my parents and brother went over there this last weekend... my mom to camp and relax... they guys to make sure they are ready to hunt.


In other news, I have begun my workouts. On Friday I spent about a half hour on the elliptical. Unlike the ellipticals that I have been on before this one is more of a mix between a treadmill and a stair master. Before the strides were much longer, this one is much higher. I am not sure how much I like that but there are quite a few of those, treadmills, stair masters and bikes... also, I have a lot of aerobics classes that I can go to so I am not worried about liking the elliptical too much... I don't know how much time I will end up spending on it anyway.

But speaking of aerobics classes... I am still sore from the class I did on Saturday. I was actually up in time for the 8:30am class and I wanted to go to the Spinning class but when I got to the gym that had been cancelled for that day but the Body Pump class was at the same time so I went to that instead. In that class we did a lot of exercises with weights and we did them to music. When I left I was a little sore but I didn't feel like I had done a lot but since I had been in there an hour I thought it would be time to go home. As the day went on I could start to feel the effects of the workout and yesterday I was so sore!! I guess I really did work my muscles good!! I am going back to the gym today... and I think that class is going again today so I will probably take it again. Tomorrow I have an appointment with the trainer so I will hopefully learn a good routine for myself.

Back to another week of work... Enjoy!!

Power House

So... my roomates and I decided that we need to do something about the excess weight that the house seems to be putting on us (ok... maybe it is the food that we have been eating). Most of us had all gone to a gym before to work out so we decided that we would all get a membership together...

We found a gym that is about 10 minutes away from our house and it is really nice. They have all the equipment that I could want, tv's for all elipticals, stair stepers, and treadmills, and they have classes that I can go to everyday (and they are at times that I can make it). They also have all the different kind of weights and benches I could ever need... and they have tanning beds that I can go to and it is very inexpensive... very nice! Click here to go to a link to the site is. I need to get myself a lock and some headphones at my lunch and I am going to work out tonight. I am just going to run on the eliptical for today... I am going around with a trainer on Monday (that was the first time I could be scheduled in).

I went for lunch to get myself a lock and some headphones... I think I am now all set!! I'll let you know how I like it!

Chocolate...

ananda (AH-nan-duh) noun

Pure bliss.

[From Sanskrit ananda (joy).]

Anandamide is the name given to a compound found in mammalian brains. It's the same compound that's found in chocolate. Now you know why chocolate gives you that feeling of bliss.

Hello...

I have updated this blog a little bit recently...

I do have a link on the side with pictures... which has been updated since my trip to Michigan. Take a look if you have the time. I will try to keep some kind of update as to my life in photographs... I have my picture phone but I always forget to use it!

I also have a link on the side to send me an email... quick and easy for you if you want to send an email. The other way to make comments... click on the comment button.

New Photos

My cousin sent me a few photos from when they saw President Bush speak so I have added those to my photo album... take a look if you want. I definately don't update my photo album as much as I would like... I really would like to get a digital camera to make that process a little easier (and the pictures would be clearer than with my camera phone)... but then I carry my camera phone everywhere I go and I never use it to take pictures... so... I probably wouldn't use a digital camera any more... and I wouldn't carry it as much. I guess it really isn't a high priority.

I am flying up to MI today. My flight leaves around 9:00 this evening so I will get something to eat after work and then go right to the airport. My bag is packed and sitting in the car as we speak. I am ready to get all of this over with... definately! And it will be nice seeing family again.

Another day... another dollar

Happy Friday Y'all!! I just got one of the very rare, and highly anticipated very happy customers! I can't believe that someone who called in to my company was actually happy with their service... they just had a few questions and updates that they needed from me here in the technical support department!! It was a very nice thing to hear on a Friday!! And, generally, people only call in when there is something wrong... so those are the only people I hear from.

My big weekend plans... there is going to be an art and craft fair in town that I will probably go to tomorrow. And that is my big plans. I will want to play tennis at some point... and all of us will probably play some games together. Sounds nice and relaxing to me!!

Post Francis

Fortunately most of Francis died before it got to us but there still was a lot of power outages around the city. And since my job involves a ton of small business around the area I was quite busy yesterday... and there is some over flow for today as well.

Ok, check this out... I was waiting to get into the elevator this morning so I was standing by where I push the button to call the elevator. There is almost never anyone coming down the elevator in the mornings so I stood close to the door. When it opened I started walking towards it when I noticed there was someone coming out. So I said "oh, I'm sorry, excuse me" as I backed away from the door to give her more room. At that point she said "excuse me, or just knock me over." I couldn't believe it. I moved and apologized for being in her way, and she said that. And on top of it this woman was at least 2 times the size of me... there was no way that I was going to knock her down. I have to deal with these people on the phone daily... and I guess now I have to deal with them in person. Yuck!

Other than that things have been going well. It was nice to have the extended weekend and I basically relaxed for most of it which was wonderful!!

So, I am starting to get used to the drive in the morning... starting... don't know if it will ever be accomplished. It does give me motivation though to start saving money so I can look at moving closer. Looking to purchase a house but I want to have some money saved up and with the cost of rent and utilities and such where I live beening so inexpensive as compared to the rest of this city I really don't want to move to rent and pay at least 2 times as much. So, I guess I am glad for the motivation.

I am really starting to get myself back into the cardio routine that I once was in. There still isn't a basketball court that we have found to use yet but all my roommates and I have been playing tennis at a local park. The park is very nice and it has baseball diamonds, horseshoe courts, a pool and quite a few tennis courts but there isn't a basketball court. I have been trying to add that in and still do my running and lifting but I haven't gotten into that full routine yet. Also, last weekend I got on a bike and rode around for a little under an hour. It was a lot of fun so now I am saving up for a new bike for myself. Always stuff adding to the list of things I want to purchase. I don't mind taking my time at this point though because I still have a bike I can ride on and I don't know how often I will be riding a bike. If I find that I am riding a lot then I will definitely want to pick one up sooner... otherwise I will probably wait until I have purchased a new computer... so many things to consider there too. So many things, so little money. If there is anyone out there who has some extra laying around you are more than welcome to send it my way!!

Well, time to drink my tea, try to wake up, and do some work.

Working hard...

I have been working way too hard lately... I haven't had enought time to update this thing!!

I am really liking my new hours... I like to be able to get out at 5pm... so beautiful.. I just have to get used to the drive in the morning. Right now I just fight to stay awake as I drive in. But I hope I will be able to figure out something for myself to help me stay awake.

One of my roomates is interviewing here today. It would be cool if we both worked here and our hours are similar... we could car pool or something. Who knows thought if all will work out for him to work here... only time will tell.

I have finally brought my A+ book into work so I can start reading that. I also have the Lance Armstrong book "It's Not About the Bike." For anyone who hasn't read it... its soooo good! You are so missing out...

Enjoy your weekend!!

New Schedule...

I now have a new schedule!! I am working 8-5!! Woo hoo!! I so prefer the hours (much more time at night) but the drive is going to be a lot worse... now that I go at rush hour. I am willing to take that sacrafic though!!

I tried to take a new way to work but got a little bit lost... had to pull out my map. I ended up back on track and then about 10 minutes late to work. So... I will stay a little bit later tonight. Had I not gone out of my way I would have been early.

A little horror this morning. I was walking out of the house, looking down... I was putting something in my purse. Just as I looked up I planted my face smack dab in the middle of a spider web!!! It was so gross!! I can still feel it on my face. The scariest part... the spider ended up in my hair!!! Ugg!! Nasty!

Monday already

I had a great weekend... and I barely left the house!! I can't believe how much we got done in cleaning and moving things around so the room would be open for the new roomate!! I got rid of a lot of paperwork that I no longer needed. It was nice to look around and see the place clean as well. We have just gotten so used to the place being just the 3 of us that we had gotten a little relaxed at cleaning up the place.

I did go to Walmart 2 times on Saturday. Once to do grocery shopping and then later at night because a pan broke and we needed to get a new one. I don't mind the Walmart that is close to where I live... it is very similar to a store that I was used to before. It has everything there... but the best time to go isn't a Saturday afternoon. There were so many crazy people with their kids running every where. It was a mad house... I did survive though!!

F-R-I-D-A-Y!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I am so excited that its Friday!!! Not that I have much planned for this weekend. One of my roomates is on call and we have another person moving in after next weekend so we will probably spend most of the weekend cleaning and moving things around to get ready for another body in the house. I am pretty excited about the new roomate. He also worked with me before and I think he just needed a good change so he is moving too. He was also one of the people who helped move me down here. I know that he has been talking with the people at my job and he may be working here too!

Also, I got a reward today!! Go me!! There is a thing called a COO award that they give out to people they think are doing a good job. I got one... I got an "at-a-girl" and $100. So I thought that was pretty cool. They also sent an email to the whole company stating that I got the award. I was somewhat embarrased (as I often get when I am recognized for something) but I was very excited as well. Here is what they said about me:

Tier I Tech Support
Kristie – Our goal is to get to 70% of our trouble tickets handled by Tier I Tech Support. This is a lofty goal but we are moving in the right direction! Kristie handled 189 calls and opened 125 tickets during the month of July 2004. She was able to close 80 tickets which is 64% of her ticket opened total – nice progress! The tech support calls often take a little longer to handle with an average talk time of 9 minutes and 12 seconds. Kristie came in with an average talk time of 8 minutes and 22 seconds in July - 50 seconds ahead of the average. Thanks to Kristie for taking care of our customers and helping to maintain our industry leading churn rate!

I am pretty proud of myself... pat my own back (wink, wink).

Have a great weekend!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

Are you ready to celebrate my birthday... why not right??? Well... I am here at work right now... really getting wild... oh yeah!! Actually I have spent most the day getting yelled at from customers... lucky me. My friend here did give me a cute little present (a little puppy stuffed animal... it is so soft and cuddly) and a balloon. So fun!! That did make my afternoon a little brighter.

I also got the most beautiful pair of earrings for my birthday... I absolutely love them. They are blue sapphire.. Fabulous!! I got them a 'little' early (which I didn't mind... wink, wink) and I have been wearing them constantly.

I have started a new little "diet" idea... we are looking to see how many calories that we take in everyday so we are keeping a log of what we eat. We are also trying to pair that against the correct amount calories (and the correct amounts of protein, carbs, and (un)fat) along with working out. I am looking to get back down to my previous... pre-move size. I know that I may not get down that far... there were some circumstances that caused the lack of eating that I don't want to duplicate... but I am hoping to a least trim down to a more respectable weight and maybe get a few little muscles that I can show off.

I can't believe that its already into August... this summer just flew by!!

Another day in my life...

See, here is the excitement for the day... this morning I worked out. I felt the burn. And yes, I really do sweat. Its crazy!!

So after cleaning up after the big workout I made some banana bread. Unfortunates it wasn't ready by the time I left so I had a roommate take it out of the oven. I am so ready to have some tonight when I get home!!

I also did a load of laundry before work. Ugh... it' s never ending!! I guess at least it's not too hard. And there is banana bread waiting for me at home...

I know there is a place I should be able to work out for free around my place of employment so I went hunting today at lunch. I found the building that this workout place is supposed to be in but I never actually found the room. So the hunt continues.

After lunch I was going to get into the elevator and who else is waiting to get into the elevator but the CEO of the company. The wild thing is he remembers things about me. He knows the shift that I work on and he carries on conversations with me. I thought that is pretty cool!

Now I am just waiting until the end of my work day so I can get home. I am so ready for my schedule change. And I say that every single day. I so can't wait!! It should be soon.

Also, for any of y'all who have a few dollars laying around... my birthday is coming up on Monday. Presents would be nice... lol!

A whole week...

I can't believe how long its been since I wrote in this blog... work is definitely getting in the way!! Right now I do like my job... I just feel so useless... I need to ask for help so much. I look back at my last job and remember knowing a lot of what I was doing. But then if I go back to the beginning I was asking questions all the time. So, I guess it will just take some time to get myself up to par (or as they say... ramped up).

I have got a magic deck going. One that I actually created (with some help... ok... a little bit more then some). And it is doing alright. I am having fun playing it. I will probably create some more decks eventually. It is fun!

One thing that is so nice about living here is the fact that cars don't have rust!! I love that. So... people buy so many different kinds of cars and drive them all the time. It is sooooo cool to watch for cars on the way to work!! I enjoy seeing all the different kinds.

So... if you remember me talking about how I kept slamming the same toe (and same toenail) into things... then you will be glad that I told you... the nail came off this past week. I am so disappointed... everytime I look down there all of the other nails are so beautifully painted and then that one... only about 1/4 of actual nail. The rest is dark from the scap trying to heal me. Hopefully it won't be long before there will be enough nail there to paint!

I am going to a wedding next weekend so yesterday I went to Target to get them a gift. I found the registry and looked for a cute gift... I got them some of the kitchen things that was on their registry. Then I needed to get something to rap it all in. So I go to that section of the store and found a cute bag and some paper to go in it. I take my time and find one that wasn't beat up. I was so careful when giving it to the check out lady. After she rang everything up she just thru it all in a bag... everything on top of the bag that I took so long to find. Now it is all beat up. Pissed me off a little bit. Ok... I am still a little mad about it.

But... on a happier note... I got a birthday present yesterday.... and I love it... very pretty!!!!!

Tour de Lance

I have been getting into the tour lately... and go Lance!!  He has been doing very well.  I haven't watched the tour in the past but man is it crazy.  It also makes me want to bike.  Well, first I need to get one... but who's counting!

Another busy day here at the office.  I am getting better at answering the phones but I am still slower than I want to be.  They want us to average a 7 or 8 minute talk time.  Well, I am way over that.  I did talk to my manager and he said not to worry about it at all since I am new here.  So that is cool. 

I have a little something for you to check out.  If you have volume make sure turn it on.  Its pretty good!!

 

Welcome to my weekday

I am crazy sore today!!!  I have been very good about working out lately so my body is trying to adjust to the routine.  I have the hardest time getting myself to work out but when I am done I feel so good!  Today was back and biceps.  Yesterday was chest and tricepts.  Last night I felt bruised  in those two areas... it had to be from the workout... crazy!!  Tomorrow is a light day... I will see how my body feels but I will probably run and do my pilates.
 
I have a couple hours until work starts and I have to finish getting myself ready.  I did some shopping yesterday... I had a ton of fun.  I was able to get a ton of really cute shirts and most were $3 each... and that is not a typo... really $3 each.  And a lot of them are Express shirts.  Got to love Marshalls.  I should be a spokesperson for them.  I think I would do well in that job.  But anyway... I am sure that I will be wearing one of my new shirts to work!!!  That is too much fun!
 
 

Sunday

Well,  the weekends almost over... too bad... back to work tomorrow.  I want to find out what time Marshalls opens up to see if I could go tomorrow before work.  I am looking for anything that wouldn't cost much money.  I love that I can generally find a pretty cute shirt for under $5.  And generally they are name brand shirts (Express, Esprit, BCBG...).  I love that store!!
 
Watched 2 movies on tv this weekend.  One was Simone and the other was Basic Instinct.  I really liked Simone... it was a very cute movie.  It makes you think a little bit... about how it really is starting to happen with all of the animated movies and how it could get so far as no one could tell if the person on the screen is real or not.  Also, it makes you realize that probably a lot of what the celebrities do to make themselves look cool is completely made up.  And most of us that watch don't know the difference.  Basic Instinct was alright.  It did have a good ending to make another movie out of it.  I am surprised they never did.
 
Never did get to the burger place this weekend... never went downtown.  Not like its a big deal though... plenty of time to do that anyway.
 
I am going back to working out tomorrow.  I am better about working out when I have a job.  Lately I have been working out in the morning before going to work.  I found a good routine in a magazine that I am following for lifting but last week the weight I used were not heavy enough so I am going to be going up in weight this week.  I also try to run and work on my abs everyday.  See how that will go... I defiately have gained some weight that I need to get rid of.   And that is what I am working on doing now!

Busy... Busy... Busy...

Hello again... sorry it has been so long since I last wrote.  I have been really busy at work.  I have a new work schedule... I now work 11am to 8pm.  So... I have been getting up at about 7:00am and working out, doing some things around the house, and then going to work.  When I get home I get pretty lazy and I don't get onto the computer.
 
It looks like today maybe  a lazy weekend.  Watching the Tour de France right now and then later probably working on organizing the comics. 
 
I really have going downtown on my mind.  There is a place called The Vortex that has been rated with the best burgers.  I am really hoping to go there to check it out.  If I do I will let you know how it goes!

Shoe, shoes, shoes...

I was able to go shoe shopping today. We went to Off Broadway Shoes and I had so much fun. Can't wait until the paychecks start coming in and I can really do some shopping. I also want to get a few more jeans since I can wear them to work. So, I am all ready to do some more shopping... there is a mall by my work that I can go to look for some clothes... I will be able to go at lunch. I really like that (and I am sure that Discover likes that too)!

I also got a Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It is pretty cool. I am playing Zelda on it right now and having a lot of fun. I am up to level 6... and enjoying myself.

Hard Rock

I had the most fun the last couple days!! Yesterday after work we went to basically an adult arcade. It was a lot of fun playing all the different games. They also have a large restaurant and billiards but we didn't eat or play that. We pretty much stuck with the video gaming. It was a little getto but still very fun. A few people from work were supposed to meet up with us but things happened and that didn't work out. Oh well, I still had fun anyway!!

Last night we also played a little Magic. It was fun although I only won once. I am trying to get them to play more with me but I guess since I am not much of a challenge they don't find it as fun. Oh well, the only way I will get better is by practice!!

Today we went downtown to the mall and to Hard Rock. I love the big city and I love Hard Rock!!! It was the fabulous!! I got a glass while I was there and I now have change in it. It is sitting on my desk next to the computer. I have it next to my other Hard Rock glass from when I visited NYC.

The rest of the night will consist of gaming probably and then tomorrow I need to go shoe and grocery shopping. The shoes that I have been wearing are getting a pretty funky smell so I need to get some new ones. I am looking to go to a place called Broadway Shoes Warehouse (or something like that) and it has a ton of name brand shoes at like 1/2 the price. And I love when I can get a good deal.

Check ya lata!

I like to... party all the time...

Another day of work. We are getting more into what we will actually be doing which is really nice but we will be in training until Monday.

We have been watching Lance on television thru the Tour de France. Pretty cool to watch since it is something that I have never watched before. Although I have not been into biking before I really want to start. There are so many mountains around here though it seems like it would be a lot of fun.

Other than that it has been pretty uneventful.

Poof!

So the day so far has consisted of Magic. I am definitely learning the game. And I am told that for all of you who are in the know I am to tell you that I played the Zombie hand... and am not really a fan of playing against it. I don't know how many more times I can play against the hand and still be friends with its owner!! Other than that though I am having fun and I actually have won a few games... go me!!

I also remember a first that happened yesterday that I forgot to post earlier... I saw a lady walking around downtown with a live bird on her shoulder. Probably a parrot but still... she was just walking it around like you would a dog but it was on her shoulder. I have never seen someone just walking around town like that before... crazy!!

Fireworks!!

The fireworks yesterday were fabulous!!! They lasted about a half hour and they were gorgeous. They had them done to music and it was so fun to watch. There were some that were huge, some that sparkled, some that looked like shooting stars, and some that were done in shapes (like stars, hearts, and smiley faces).

Before the fireworks there were a lot of festivities that we were able to watch. We got downtown at about 1pm and went first to a comic book store. It was pretty huge and very cool. We will be going back to that one soon. After the comic book store we went to a mall where we were able to watch Spiderman 2. It was a pretty cool movie... if you haven't seen it yet its a good one!! We then went to the fireworks area and walked around everything. There were so many people there!! I want to find out how many people were actually there. But we found a curb to sit on and played Zelda and listened to the music that played. The Spin Doctors were there (do you remember the songs that they had on the radio??) and played for about an hour. I guess they are going to go on tour again soon... if you were interested. Diana Degarmo (from American Idol) sang the national anthem. She did a very good job. I guess she has a single out but I haven't heard it yet.

Working for the weekend...

I had a really good first week of work. I have definitely met some fun people and I really think I will like the job. All of us newbies went out for lunch on Friday and had a lot of fun joking around. Luckily we have really gotten along pretty well which makes learning really fun!! Also since we are the first group to go thru the orientation process like this they are very open to our feedback.

This weekend should be pretty fun. The only real plans that I have is to see the fireworks tomorrow night. The rest of the weekend (and Monday) are really for relaxing. Sounds nice to me!!

Day 2

I found out that there is a small gym that can be used by people at our company just down the road from where I work. It is too far to walk to (and the roads are busy anyway) but I thought it would be cool to go there in the summer (especially when it is way too hot to be walking outside anyway) and go for a lunch time walk. First though I need to get my car back so I can drive there!! Oh well. Am having fun anyway. I bring a book or magazine and my lunch and sit outside (there is a very beautiful area right there that I can sit at). Unfortunately today has been rainy so I couldn't stay out there all of my lunch hour. But it was nice to be out there for a while.

We came home and worked out. It was a leg day and my legs now hurt!!! It will be so much fun working tomorrow...

Working woman

I just had my first day of work. Right now I am going in at 8:30am and getting out between 5 and 5:30 but this is for training. I will be training for the rest of this week and next week (minus Monday which is a holiday). It was really fun... there were 6 of us "newbies" who are in training together. There are 2 of us girls and 4 guys. We are the ginney pigs since they haven't ever done this kind of training before. The girl and I got along right away and were having a lot of fun training together unfortunately we are not in the same department (although we are on the same floor of the building). We will be meeting with HR tomorrow for most of the day for training about the company and our benefits that we will be getting.

When I start actually doing my job I will be on the 5th floor of a 5 floor building and overlook I-75 (although it may not sound cool I am so excited... this is something that I was really hoping... I wanted to work in a place where there would be windows and I could see the "city life"). I also don't know what my hours will be (I could go in anywhere between 8am and 11am and get out after 8 hours of work... latest being 8pm). I am hoping to have a shift that starts at either 8am or 9am but I am not getting my hopes up since I will be new.

I met the COO of the company today. He was walking around while I was doing some job shadowing and the guy I was shadowing introduced me to him. Everyone in my department seem really laid back and we joked around while I was learning how they take calls and whatnot. I worked with the head of the Tier 1 Tech. Support department and his second in command. They were a lot of fun. I found out that the department head (Joe) grew up and lived in Queens, NY until he was in his mid 20's. When he interviewed me I thought he had the accent but I didn't want to ask anything. It was pretty cool. Also, the guy I shadowed lived in Long Island, NY until he was 16. So I was having fun listening to their accents!!

Last day of freedom...

This is my last day before I start a new job... and I am excited... especially that I will be making money and will be able to meet some people from the area. But at the same time I have really enjoyed the freedom of not having the commitment of a job. I am just hoping that I get along with everyone and that I can have fun while I am there. I always really enjoyed the people that I worked with before and hope that I can find something like that at this job.

So, how am I spending the last day of freedom? Well, without a car it makes it difficult to go anywhere so I am staying at home and painting my toenails, watching some TV, cleaning up a bit, and playing some games on the computer. Should be relaxing. Which is good.

I am looking forward to next weekend being that it is going to be the 4th of July. I absolutely love fireworks and we will be going downtown to watch the fireworks. I can't wait. It should be really crowded but really fun.

Lazy Sunday

So today when I got up I thought it was like 3:00 or something... get out of bed and downstairs and with my glasses on I notice its on 9:00. Very cool!! I didn't sleep in too long then. What have I done today you ask... I played Warcraft. That is all. I have basically played the game since then. I love casting spells... way cool. And yes, this is how I am spending my last bit of freedom before beginning a new job. Not overly exciting or anything but it is the most fun.

I decided that something productive would have to come from my day so I did a pilates video. It does call for some movement and I feel better after doing one the video. Very nice!!

Last night a couple came over that I had never met before. They were really cool. He is going to college and she is an engineer. They just got a new car and it was the new color of orange that I am seeing more and more of. The first time I saw the color about a year ago I didn't like it but now it has grown on me. I really think its a very neat color! If I leased my vehicle I would have really thought about having the car in that color. We ate dinner here and one of my roommates cooked. He made fish... it was very good. We had a little wine with it. I had a very little bit and I was drunk enough. I haven't drank in so long!! It was a fun night!

Welcome to Saturday!!! Next week at this time I will be way more excited that it is the weekend... that being after I worked 4 days!!! Get some money rolling in... it will be very nice! Watched the movie The Others this morining... it was on TBS. Pretty good... not as scary as I expected but a good twist... did like it!

I am also learning a new game... Warcraft. My guy is up to level 3 already which I think is pretty cool. I am having a lot of fun with the game. I am having to go on quests but also have to set up towns. It's almost like they put Star Craft and Zelda or something together... its pretty cool!!

Another day... Another blog!

I haven't been running as much as I used to but I don't have a treadmill or elliptical here and it can get so hot outside. Right now actually it is raining so I am doing some laundry. I have gained some weight again since I have been down here. The change has really messed up my workout routine. But I am now getting back to a good one. This time I am doing more lifting than running but I am still trying to do my sit-ups everyday. I will see what happens once I start the new job (what time I go in and get out) and try to insert a running routine in there as well. With the weight training workouts though I am actually getting a good cardio work out. I am lifting heavier weights and doing them quicker which I heard elevates your heart and does a cardio workout with it. Double bonus!! Also I am trying to eat very healthy... keep my metabolism strong to continually burn calories. Although I try not to I still seem to add a little bit of chocolate to my diet. It is so hard for me to cut that out but I am working on it. I did go for a few days with out it but my head just started pounding... a sure sign of addiction!!

Even though I live in the south I think I may need to get a good tanning package as well... I have only been able to sit outside 1 time since I have been down here... just been so busy!! And when I am not busy it seems to rain. There are a lot of places here that I can go tanning and just like you I feel so pasty white!! I don't know if other people see the same thing (kinda hope not) but I know that’s what I see when I look in the mirror!

Yesterday there was another first but this one wasn't so good... I saw my first huge cockroach in the kitchen. It was disgusting. I screamed so loud I scared everyone in here... including the cockroach I think because no one could find it again. My heart was just a pounding... it came out of no where!! Yuck!!!!

Cow's Opinion

So, I begin working in less than a week. Crazy!! I have gotten used to having all this free time. Oh well. I need the money more. Also, one of my roommates also got a new job and it starts on Monday. Crazy that we both start new jobs next week.

Yesterday we set up the new (well, new to us) weight equipment. Nice to have some more stuff to work out with. We also had to move a ton of boxes that were in our way. It was a full day job but its nice to have it done.

Today I have been very busy... jk!! I have cleaned the bathroom and kitchen (which by the way were really dirty) and I did some light grocery shopping. I don't have a vehicle and a roommate was going shopping so I was more than happy to go with.

Player 1 has been eliminated...

I keep doing stupid things and hurting myself!! A couple days ago I was working out and I scraped my knee with the weight bench (there was a screw that was sticking out) and then yesterday with the bar I scraped it against my knee and now have a little burn on it too. Then yesterday a roommate and I were cleaning out the weight area and we decided to put a fan in there. There is only one fan here and it only had the back part of the fan guard still attached (no clue what happened to the front piece). We didn't know if it would work so we plugged it in. It didn't make a sound or do anything so I decided to pull around on it to see if anything would make it work. I didn't think and moved the back guard. When I did that it started working and a metal fan blade sliced 2 of my fingers. It started to bleed so I ran up the stairs to clean it out and I slammed my foot into the stair. So both hurt. I cleaned out the cuts and put some bandaids on them to stop the bleeding. I then noticed that not only did I slam my foot into the stairs I also ripped part of the toenail on my large toe. Then today we were out eating at a restaurant and I went to get up. When I went to push the chair back I moved the pressure funny and my foot slipped. The toe slammed into the bar under the table and of course it had to be on the toe that I hurt yesterday. I did everything I could to not scream and cry. I was actually scared to look at it... I knew it would be bleeding. When I finally looked it was bleeding and it was pretty bad. Actually... that was about 8 hours ago and I keep having to clean it out. It is so sore!!!

I saw the new Harry Potter movie on an IMAX screen. It was very cool to see it that large!!! I definitely think that more movies should be played on that size screen. I saw the second Harry Potter movie on Friday afternoon. Good thing too because I tend to forget movies after a few days and it makes it a lot easier to see a sequel after just watching the last one. Good story line... and there were some scary parts. A few of which made me jump. I haven't ever read the books but I really want to. I think it would be pretty cool to actually read them especially since everyone says they go along pretty well with the movie.

I also saw the Chronicles of Riddick. Very cool... lots of action. Some cheesy parts but you have to expect that... over all though very good.

Rise and shine... time to shop!!

Ok... so to say a little bit more about this new job.

They are mailing me the final papers via Fed Ex and I will start next week. I think that is pretty good... all within a month of moving here. I will be considered Tier 1 Technical Support (aka Help Desk). It is a full time job with benefits and I think it will be an excellent company to work for. They are a technology related company that does telephone and internet support via Voice Over IP for small businesses. I am very excited.

It is a beautiful area... on the foothills of the mountains. Also, the building that I am going to be working in is in a built area... with lots of big buildings!! I am so very excited... somewhat of a feel of NYC (of course not the same... but darn close)!! And you know how I feel about Manhattan.

I will be driving about an hour to work and back with is a pretty typical drive for this area. I am very lucky that I have gotten such a great opportunity so quickly. Everyone I talked to was very similar to me... wanting to learn more and to keep growing in the Information Technology field.

I will keep you posted on how my job is going once I start.

Yesterday was a very lazy day. I cleaned a little bit, painted my toe nails, and watched Newly Weds on MTV. There was a marathon of the second season because the third season started last night. It was so much fun to watch and I haven't really sat down and watched much TV. Even though I have had time off I have been filling my time with other things.

Today is another shopping day. Rise and shine... time to shop!! I want to get some groceries... again... and I want to look at a few other stores. I have already sun bathed so I have finally been able to get some sun!! But now I am sweaty and in desperate need of a shower.

LATA!!

I AM NOW EMPLOYED!!!

I just got a call... I will start soon with my new job!!! Woo hoo!! They are Fed Ex'ing the papers to me!!

The state where ya never find a dance floor empty

Ok... I had the interview. Went pretty well I do think. I will find out by the end of the week if I have the job or not. I am really thinking that I will but I won't know for sure for a few days probably. I really like what I have heard and they seem pretty laid back on dress code and what not which will be very fun.

So... I think tomorrow I will finally try to get my white ass outside and get some color. Hopefully it will be sunny!!

I also got an estimate done on my vehicle... since I got in the accident I finally got into gear and got it done... ouch!!! It will be at least $3,000. Good thing for insurance!!! I should only have to pay about $500 of that cost.

So, Dustin, you made my day... anyone else who wants to know why can look at the comment from yesterday!! Very cool... keeping up on my music scene... very cool!!!

You know the type loud as a motor bike but wouldn't bust a grape in a fruit fight

I have another interview for tomorrow with the CBeyond Communications company. I am pretty excited!!! It is in the next town over (hour or so to get there) and I really liked what I heard last time I was there. I need to brush up on how to get to the company and what not but overall I am ready to go.

Ok... so I went to do some grocery shopping today (which I tend to do a lot of don't I) and ended up going to Marshall's as well. I fell in love with the store. Serious name brand prices pretty cheap. In fact I spent $2 on an Express shirt!!! Unbelievable. I had some fun!!

Tonight I am going to a friends house. It should be pretty cool since I haven't been there before.

I will keep you updated on the job hunt!!

Fuddruckers

Another first... checked out Fuddruckers... very good!! Yummy... if you don't know what it is or haven't been there before check out the link. It's a pretty cool place. You order your food and then they have a ton of condiments that you can add to it.

I also checked out a store called Off Broadway Shoes... oh wow... I was in heaven!!!! There were just rows and rows and rows of beautiful shoes... I wish I had a job just so I could shop in that store. I couldn't work there though... I would have less money then I do right now if I did that. And the greatest part is that it was a clearance warehouse. Shoes... on sale... does it get any better than that??

I checked online again today for jobs. I found another 5 or 6 that I was qualified for that was in a reasonable driving distance. I will keep you posted as to what happens with the job hunt.

Other than that its been a very relaxing day. I have really enjoyed my weekend so far... all that can screw it up is if the Pistons lose... I will be rooting away later tonight!!! Go team go!!

Troy is everything they say it is and more...

Had a really fun day today. I actually got up by 8:00am... well... I was woken up but who is splitting hairs... but 10:30am we were in the next town over watching the movie Troy. Now I am generally into the really girly movies but I really liked this one. It was beautifully shot and an excellent story. I hadn't known much about that story (I know, I know... I need to catch up on my Greek mythology) but it was a beautiful love story and an excellent fight movie. I don't think they could have made it any better. Click on the link to learn about the movie. I would definately recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

Well, that wasn't the only movie I saw... also saw Stepford Wives... it was alright... not what I expected but it was pretty funny.

Since the movie theater was in the mall we had to do some shopping as well... but as usual with me one mall isn't enough so we went to another town and to another mall. The second mall I had never been to before... it was alright... there were others around here that I like more... so I will probably go to those instead but it was nice to see. We also pick up some weights while we were out so we can do some more lifting. Try to get in shape... or at least work off all the ice cream!!